Raymond Lewis

Biography

Ray Lewis won bronze as a member of the 4x400m relay team at Los Angeles 1932.

Hailing from Hamilton, Ontario, the grandson of escaped slaves was the first Canadian-born Black athlete to win an Olympic medal.

At the 1928 Canadian Trials, Lewis had finished fourth in the 400m but was not selected to the relay team that would compete at the Olympic Games in Amsterdam. He went on to win four events at the 1929 national high school championships and enrolled at Marquette University but he returned to Canada soon thereafter. He continued to train while working as a porter with the Canadian Pacific Railway and decided to give up a month’s pay to compete at the 1932 Canadian Trials where he earned his ticket to Los Angeles.

Lewis was named to the Order of Canada in 2001 and following his death in 2003 had an elementary school in Hamilton named in his honour.